Coronavirus may force pregnant N.J. woman to deliver baby without her husband

Mark Scardigno has been playing the unthinkable moment out in his head.

He would bring his nine-months pregnant wife, Ashley, on Wednesday, with her bags and a car seat for their newborn, to Englewood Hospital -- and drop them off at the curb.

Ashley would make her way, alone, to the maternity ward, where she’s scheduled to be induced to deliver the couple’s second son.

The moment would be “really hard,” Mark said.

But 24 hours after learning from a maternity ward nurse that Ashley wouldn’t be able to bring Mark along for the birth, they were told by a hospital spokesperson that support people are being allowed on a case-by-case basis.

“I’m more confused than ever,” Ashley said, 13 hours before she was due to report to the hospital. “Whatever the right thing they want me to do is, I’ll do it. I just cant figure out from everybody what that is.”

In a phone call Monday with the maternity admissions desk she was told that as of later that day a support person is no longer allowed to attend a birth. The rule was meant to protect other patients and hospital staff from potential exposure to COVID-19.

A spokesperson for Englewood Hospital declined to comment on the record for this story.

Englewood Hospital is located in Bergen County, which has the highest concentration of coronavirus cases in the state. It had 701 residents test positive, Gov. Phil Murphy said during a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

The state Department of Health has left it up to hospitals to individually determine their visitor and support person policies, a spokesperson for the DOH said.

Valley Health Systems, which owns Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, and Hackensack Meridian Health, which owns Hackensack University Medical Center, have similar policies.

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital New Brunswick announced Monday that temporarily, no visitors, including birthing partners and support persons, will be permitted for patients in its labor and delivery, postpartum and neonatal intensive care units.

Among the restrictions hospitals are placing for maternity wards are that expectant mothers can only have one visitor for their entire stay. So, they can’t swap out the baby’s dad for a visit from grandma.

Ashley and Mark both said they have taken the coronavirus precautions ordered by Murphy seriously. And they’re willing to go through any screenings or restrictions necessary.

“What I would hate to happen is I’m up there by myself and watching husbands and wives come in together," Ashley said.

Having to be apart for this milestone moment would be devastating, they said.

“I always expected to be there for the births of all my kids,” Mark said.

Ashley Scardigno, with 19-month-old son Robert, is trying to figure out if she will have to deliver her second child Wednesday without her husband present.

The birth of the Scardigno’s first child, Robert, 19 months ago, was pretty straightforward. Ashley said she remembers she was in Buy Buy Baby when her water broke at 37 weeks. After being in labor for 6 hours, she pushed for 30 minutes and he was born.

Their second son, Sam, isn’t due until March 31, but, she said, her doctor decided she should deliver at 39 weeks, which she hit Tuesday, because of everything that’s going on.

Ashley called the hospital Monday to talk to a labor and delivery nurse about her pending visit. As the call was wrapping up, the nurse told her that she’d have to come alone for the birth.

“She was very sympathetic,” Ashley said. She immediately called her doctor to see if anything could be done. Could she deliver before the rule took effect? Was there any way around it? Nope.

“Everyone has been really great, the doctors and the nurses,” Ashley said.

Her biggest fear, she said, is that something will not go as planned with the delivery and a medical decision will have to made for her or the baby and she won’t be in the condition to make the decision.

“Who will make it and will it be the decision I would’ve made,” the 35-year-old from Palisades Park said.

As with any expectant mother, Ashley said, she pushes aside fears about the what-ifs.

“Now they’re exasperated,” she said, adding that her heart breaks even more for first-time mothers.

Mark said he thinks that before the hospital bars fathers from being there for their child’s birth, they should put a plan in place for dads to virtually watch.

“We totally get it and we’re on-board with social distancing and want to do that,” Mark said, “but some things -- when you think about places that are open and others that have restrictions in place that are not being enforced -- that’s more hazardous to the general public than to have both parents in the hospital seeing a birth.”

Mark, who works from home as a software developer, and Ashley, a social worker, who has been working from home, are spending Tuesday trying to savor their final day as a three-person family.

“Hopefully we’ll have a healthy, happy baby and one day we can laugh about this,” Ashley said. “It’s hard to feel that way now, but I’m trying to be as optimistic as possible.”